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  • Apples: Review

    Apples: Review

    I have to admit, the first time I saw Apples, I did not think it worked for me. Many of the movie’s themes and concepts were something I could not fully grasp. It also put me off the first time because it felt like a part of the rash of pandemic-related movies that have came out, where people get affected by some ailment or the other. On that same note, I was glad I watched it a second time.

    It was a heartbreaking movie about heartaches and the lengths we sometimes go to forget. To paraphrase from a recent interview of the director, Christos Nikou, “When all of those familiar markers of time and place are removed, you have to ask yourself, ‘Who am I? Who are we?’. ‘Am I a product of what I’ve remembered, or what I’ve forgotten?.” That sums up Apples, right from the horse’s mouth.

    Apples start with Aris (Aris Servetalis) banging his head repeatedly on the wall. Various reports come on TV about the looming pandemic that has been causing a rise in amnesia cases in people. We never know why he is torturing himself, whether it’s a side effect of him having lost his memory or reacting to something else.

    Soon, he is woken up on a bus by a fellow passenger with no memory of who he is or where he lives. As there is no memory and no record of his whereabouts, he is sent to a unique rehabilitation clinic where the doctors can study him further. They give him a list of tasks to help him trigger his memory or even create new ones which they instruct him to capture with a Polaroid camera and save in his album.

    The tasks range from pretty simple tasks like riding a bicycle to some weird derivatives, like taking part in a protest with other patients but in cosplay, and things get rather bizarre from there. The gist of it is that the more task he does, and the more invested he becomes, it is apparent that he is becoming more uncomfortable. Perhaps recalling some pretty painful memories, he may want to forget.

    Things also get more complicated when he bonds with a fellow patient Anna (Sofia Georgovassili). She is ahead of him in the order of the tasks and may or may not use him to complete her own list.

    The most significant success of the film is the fact Aris Servetalis manages to sell the incredible premise of the film. It is hard to figure out whether he has lost his memory or if he has been playing along all along. Or if he gained back his lost memories throughout the movie.

    That becomes more pronounced in the film’s best scene, where he breaks into an impromptu dance at a party after beginning the scene as a mute spectator. He looks like he was doing his best impression of the famous dance from Bande à part.

    Sofia Georgovassili also stands tall against Aris’s powerhouse performance. The scene where she tells Aris the story of Titanic as if she is seeing it for the first time (which she is as an amnesiac) says a lot about rediscovering something like a long-lost friend or memory.

    There are a few things that are hard to digest in the movie, though. Like the glacial pace tests your patience sometimes, despite the short running time. It is also hard to believe that there are no records of the lost amnesiacs anywhere where these guys have to start almost from scratch down pat with a new apartment and locality.

    All these can be minor critiques as it is a movie that needs to be viewed, even multiple times, to get a hold of it to gratify you. Especially by the time the film climaxes and pulls the rug from underneath us.

    Apples might be a complicated watch, but it plays out like a fairytale about wanting to start afresh, often at the expense of trying to forget all the wonderful memories of your life to erase a few bad ones.

  • Truth: Falcon And Winter Soldier – Disney+ Talk

    Truth: Falcon And Winter Soldier – Disney+ Talk

    Truth: Falcon And Winter Soldier – Disney+ Talk – After the last episode’s shocking ending, ‘The Falcon And The Winter Soldier’ has finally grabbed my attention. Unfortunately, this episode is also the penultimate one, with the series finale being next week. Because of this, the last section of this article will contain spoilers.

    Episode 5, titled ‘Truth’, sees John Walker face consequences for his murderous actions from the last episode, while Sam and Bucky return to the USA. 

    This was an episode that needed to happen for Sam and Bucky. This episode gives them time to actually bond and talk through issues that they’ve held in throughout the whole series. This is especially highlighted near the end, when Sam goes to stay with his sister, and Bucky travels there too. While doing throwing practise with the shield, they talk about the loss of Steve Rogers and Bucky’s nightmares, which he finally confesses he’s still having. Sam then tells him that he ‘needs to start being who he wants to be and not what other people tell him to be’. It’s a beautifully simple scene and one that was necessary. This advice was also important because Bucky’s used to being mind controlled for most of his life; he needs to learn to move on and regain his own life. He also needed to be told this by someone who is, arguably, a friend to him and not someone who was forced upon him. Sam then tells him that apologizing isn’t working because the victims don’t feel better; just him. Therapy sometimes has to be a 2-way system and, if that route doesn’t work, then both parties won’t feel better. It’s a simple but powerful and emotional scene that is one of my favourites in this show. This episode also highlights even more that Antony Mackie and Sebastian Stan are fantastic alongside each other, whether they’re fighting or just talking. Their interactions are enjoyable. 

    The reason Bucky reunites with Sam is to deliver something, as well as help him and his sister fix the boat, something that was mentioned in the first episode. This montage was also a wonderful moment: because their monetary options have run out, all they have left is the community and manual labour to fix it. So, this is the option that Sam picks. It’s a wonderful moment and very symbolic: it’s almost a juxtaposition to the Flag Smashers: while they want humanity to be one kind of species, the fixing of the boat highlights that people can look past the Blip and learn to work together, whether they were snapped or not. 

    However, this episode is not all happiness, as we see the consequences of John Walker’s actions from the last episode. As expected, he is stripped of his military roles with no monetary benefits. And he is, predictably, not happy about it, almost driving on obsession to still be Captain America. His behaviour after his court trial can potentially make him into a villain, something that would be interesting to see.

    Overall, I am now starting to enjoy ‘The Falcon And The Winter Soldier’, which is a shame since this Friday’s episode is the finale. Rumours of a second season have been circulated and, despite my opinion of this series, I think a second series would be good to have and is needed because of other plot points that occur in this episode. However, whether this will happen or not remains to be seen. 

    Please now note that the remainder of this Truth: Falcon And Winter Soldier – Disney+ Talk article will contain spoilers. 

    Truth: Falcon And Winter Soldier – Disney+ Talk – This section of the article will now contain spoilers for Episode 5 of ‘The Falcon And The Winter Soldier’.

    Like last week’s article, the focus will firstly, but not purely, be on John Walker. The beginning of the episode carries on from the ending of the last episode and sees Walker run into an abandoned station. Bucky and Sam then catch up to him where a fight breaks out. The result of this is Walker trying to behead Falcon with the shield while Bucky breaks his arm trying to take the shield. Not only is this fight sequence fantastically choregraphed, but it also shows signs of John Walker’s obsession with the role of Captain America. As Sam tries to ask Walker to give him the shield, he starts yelling that it’s his and his only. In the previous episode, it was revealed that the Super Soldier Serum empathizes a person’s strongest traits. While Steve Rogers was sympathetic and was willing to sacrifice himself to save a life, John Walker is a hot headed, arrogant soldier. So, while Rogers’ caring traits were highlighted, Walker’s anger and hatred is what’s highlighted via the Serum, making him an intimidating character. His obsession, anger and hatred can also make him a villain like previously mentioned. This is especially evident when Walker is shown creating a shield of his own in the show’s post credit scene.

    One aspect of the episode that should be especially highlighted is the importance of a black Captain America. While Sam Wilson does become Captain America in the comics, he still questions whether he should take up the role or not in the show. This episode also brings up whether the world is ready for a black Captain America. Despite the world being a much better place than it was 60 years ago, it’s still facing racial unrest, especially with recent events unfortunately. Therefore, this aspect is important to bring up and discuss, especially in a genre as popular as the Superhero genre. The change in racial unrest is brought up too, when Sam goes to revisit Isaiah, a soldier who was also given the Super Soldier serum but was arrested and experimented on after escaping the laboratory where he was changed. Both him and Steve Rogers went through the same events but ended up with different results, purely because of the times. It’s an extremely sad scene as we hear of the unfair treatment that Isaiah suffered. However, it also shows that the world is more accepting now and that it’s important that Sam takes up the role more than ever. Like previously mentioned, this episode is therapeutic for Bucky, but also for Sam. The third act sees Sam accept that he should be Captain America, and trains with the shield. It’s fantastic to see but is also a visual representation of something Steve Rogers would say a lot: ‘I can do this all day’.

    Lastly, I want to end this article with a theory, that is quickly becoming a popular one: I think Sharon Carter is the Power Broker. She hasn’t been mentioned in my articles until now, just because she appeared in one episode, and served as a way for Bucky, Zemo and Sam to hide. However, her lack of appearance can be seen as deliberate: she tells Sam that she doesn’t want to go back to America because she’s wanted there, but I think there’s also another reason for her hiding. Because she’s remained mostly anonymous, it leaves room for speculation as to what she’s been doing all this time. And, considering we haven’t seen the Power Broker yet, it would make sense for her to be this character. This means that she is working with the Flag Smashers and agrees with what they’re doing, whilst being sympathetic towards Sam and Bucky. If that is the case and the theory turns out to be true, then the series finale will be extremely interesting indeed. 

    Truth: Falcon And Winter Soldier – Disney+ Talk

  • Black Bear: The BRWC Review

    Black Bear: The BRWC Review

    Black Bear: The BRWC Review. By Alif Majeed.

    Black Bear is a very tricky movie to write a review because discussing the film would open it to spoilers. But the catch here is spoilers are inevitable while discussing a movie like this one. If you have to talk about it in a nutshell, the movie is about the creative process, what the director has discussed in various interviews. I think that would be the best way to describe it.

    Instead of talking about what the movie is about, it would be better to talk about how it begins, with Aubrey Plaza’s character sitting in a cabin house’s dock overlooking a lake. It is a scene that continues to recur through the movie, and the way it does further adds to the mystical element.

    We then have Allison (Aubrey Plaza), who comes to stay in a creative retreat run by Gabe (Christopher Abbott) and Blair (Sarah Gadon). She is a writer (and is implied to have been a failed actress) who plans to use her quiet time at the retreat to write her next feature. There is clear and immediate friction between Gabe and Allison, with the former being the more attractive person. Still, she recognizes a significant part of Allison’s charm is because she is a much more interesting person among the two.

    The casting is uniformly excellent as the three actors toys with the perception the audience has about them. For example, Aubrey Plaza seems to be cast as Allison in a role that she can almost sleepwalk in. A woman with a sassy tongue who likes to stir the pot which is a role she has done countless times. Only this time, the director uses our perception of her to deliver a truly eye-opening performance.

    If you watch some of her interviews, you often have other people getting interviewed strangely trying to impress her or even try to sound or say something funny even if she doesn’t put any pressure on them to do so. That works to her advantage when Gadon and Abbott’s characters, especially in the first half, try to impress her and then tearing into each other without even realizing it.

    It is amusing when Plaza’s character actively provoking them to see their reactions, gleefully imagining it as fodder or inspiration for her writing. It comes to a head when the character’s arc shifts in the later portions of the movie where Plaza stuns and surprise when her character takes a heartbreaking dramatic turn. You can’t take your eyes off her and stay transfixed at her as the other characters do in the later portions of the movie.

    Even though Plaza steals the show here, Gadon and Abbott also deserve praise here for their layered performances that may not be as showy as Plaza’s, but the subtle changes they bring to their characters throughout the movie literally pushes Plaza to deliver a performance she would be remembered for.

    Lawrence Michael Levine, the director who also wrote the movie, is definitely someone we should eagerly await to see what he cooks up next, given his short and admittedly quirky filmography so far. With Black Bear, he has left enough room so that people would be curious enough to keep thinking about it some time after, trying to figure out if the titular black bear is a metaphor or something they had missed.

    Black Bear is definitely a movie that is destined to develop a following no matter how small, among people who would spend a lot of time dissecting, replaying, and analyzing the movie to death. That is a pretty big compliment to give to the film.

  • Street Gang: How We Got To Sesame Street – Review

    Street Gang: How We Got To Sesame Street – Review

    It feels like Sesame Street has been around forever (for Spanish speaking kids like me it was Plaza Sésamo).  Director Marilyn Agrelo’s documentary Street Gang:  How We Got to Sesame Street lays out the origin story of the celebrated children’s show.  Street Gang focuses on the idealistic and indefatigable men and women who brought the show to life in the late 1960s.  Agrelo effectively lays out Sesame Street’s genealogy from fuzzy idea to fully realized touchstone show; and it is precisely when focusing on producer Joan Ganz Cooney and producer/director Jon Stone’s role in establishing that early vision of the show that Street Gang shines.  

    Sesame Street was built on a foundation of progressive principles.  In the pre-Sesame Street era, children’s shows were mere advertising vehicles for toys and sugary snacks.  The emphasis was less on education and more on capturing a market.  Marketers were fully aware that there was something powerful in the synthesis of human memory, images, and jingles that drove the desires and behaviors of viewers, especially children.  Cooney and Stone—whose backgrounds were in television—set out to subvert the idea that television’s sole purpose was commercial.  As Cooney put it, she wanted to create television that “loved people and was not trying to sell to people.” 

    Cooney and Stone figured that if kids were already in front of a television from the moment they were born, absorbing jingles from beer commercials, they might as well meet the children where they were—the television screen.  Their goal was to apply the techniques used in commercials to sell letters and numbers to young viewers.  Cooney and Stone were adamant in wanting to appeal to inner-city children of color with limited access to education resources.  Cooney and Stone assembled educators, television people, African American and Hispanic actors, children, and two young puppeteers—Jim Henson and Frank Oz—to cook the pottage that eventually became Sesame Street.

    Street Gang fulfills its role as a genealogy; it recovers what was lost by memory.  We may have forgotten that there were educators and child psychologists involved in the show.  Educators, psychologists, directors, and actors had to work together in producing a beautiful alchemy on screen.  It was the writers that perhaps faced the thorniest challenges.  Writers had to work with educators in creating content that was both entertaining and pedagogically sound; in other words, Sesame Street’s secret sauce was comprised of jokes and curriculum. 

    We also forget just how progressive Sesame Street was.  The show’s setting was the inner-city and it used actors of color—some of the earliest examples in American television of actors of color not playing stereotypical roles.  Street Gang does a wonderful job of reminding us just how threatening Sesame Street’s progressiveness and spirit of integration were to large segments of the American public.  The state of Mississippi refused air the show for a while.  Some viewers complained that some Muppets—Roosevelt Franklin—were “too black” for their taste.  Street Gang also exposes us to the workaholic tendencies that ran through those that worked on the show.  The irony is that many times their own children missed them while they worked long hours on a children’s show.  If there is one tiny flaw in Street Gang, it is its glossing over of critiques from educators who claimed that the show was overstimulating and contributed to declining attention spans in children.  

    Street Gang deals with serious subjects.  It covers Joe Stone’s struggle with depression, Carroll Spinney’s—who played Big Bird and was the voice for Oscar the Grouch—therapeutic channeling of his emotions through his characters, the difficulties involved in the craft of puppeteering, and how to talk about the real-life death of a cast member in a children’s show.  What gives Street Gang its charm is its balancing the serious with the light.  Jim Henson and Frank Oz’s chemistry as both puppeteers and comedians is incredible, Joe Raposo’s songs for the show are clever; and above all, the improvised moments between actors, puppeteers, and non-actor children remind us of why Sesame Street holds such a special place in our collective memory. 

    The “gang” in Street Gang gives us proof that when you put together an eclectic group of talented individuals on a project, a project whose goal is not selling a product, we become richer as a society.

  • Together Together: The BRWC Review

    Together Together: The BRWC Review

    Together Together Synopsis: When young loner Anna (Patti Harrison) is hired as the gestational surrogate for Matt (Ed Helms), a single man in his 40s who wants a child, the two strangers come to realize this unexpected relationship will quickly challenge their perceptions of connection, boundaries and the particulars of love.

    Fresh off its Sundance 2021 debut, Together Together finds writer/director Nikole Beckwith engaging with romantic comedy conventions in her own naturalistic light. In a genre typically defined by artificially bound dynamics, Beckwith slyly morphs her material into a gentle celebration of friendship, self-acceptance, and the unlikely bonds between kindred spirits.

    It may not appear glaringly obvious based on marketing materials, but Beckwith’s authentic effort subversively delineates from audiences’ hard-wired expectations. The director’s toned-down visual profile and a myriad of playful diatribes (a certain bit involving the broken expectations defined by Woody Allen movies feels like a much-needed call to action) skillfully set the tone for a welcomed change-of-pace for the genre. That’s not to say Beckwith holds romantic comedies in a place of contempt, as her film manages to rework familiar beats while maintaining the genre’s open-hearted embrace for human connection (her film is also a welcomed view at the surrogate a process, which is typically defined in Hollywood by tired stereotypes).

    Together Together’s low-key appeals are perfectly suited for its central duo. Ed Helms is synonymous with playing energetic, overly-earnest dweebs that are seemingly drawn up from a wave of Hollywood contrivances. Here, Helms dials down those overworked tendencies to portray Matt in a genuine light. The Hangover star keeps his playful comedic energy intact while highlighting the character’s appeals as a kind-hearted loner looking to start a family on his own terms.

    For Patti Harrison, her role as Anna should serve as one of the year’s breakout performances. Harrison’s acerbic wit and affectionate glow define Anna as a charming self-starter who’s trying to find her own place in the world. Helms and Harrison are a delight to watch together on screen, with the duo slow-cooking the pair’s initial awkwardness into a meaningful dynamic defined by care and positive intentions. Their authentic friendship stands as a slight yet welcomed reminder of friendship’s sacrifices and challenges.

    Together Together is a delight from jump street, although the film doesn’t completely reinvigorate rom-com’s inherent cutesiness. Beckwith relies too heavily on montages to drive her narrative forward, often leaving important bits of character development offscreen in favor of whisking the audience forward. As a 90-minute piece of entertainment, Beckwith’s film consistently works, but I can’t help wishing the characters and subject matter were met with a bit more nuance.

    Minor quibbles aside, Together Together is a welcomed surprise. Beckwith’s adoring story of friendship deserves recognition as one of the year’s first feel-good crowdpleasers.

    Opening in theaters on April 23rd.